HPE-090a constant random BSODs

[BigScoddie]

Nope. Then, I'd have to call you UGLY_Dave! HAHA.

Anyway, what's UGLIER than having wiped the machine and handing it to some local techs who probably have no idea?

[Big_Dave]

What's worng with HP sending you a card in exchange?

[BigScoddie]

So long as that card is a cheque for the price of the system, I don't mind.

[djmorgan]

Personally I think the PSU is adequate, if it is working properly! I monitor my GTX 260 with Rivatuner hardware monitor and I can tell you having run 3Dmark Vantage that the computer is rock solid, I have seen no power fluctuations to the GPU or CPU.

More is not always best, you increase the PSU it is going to get hotter and the fans will work harder drawing more system power.

David

[BigScoddie]

Dave, c'mon, PLEASE, give me something to work with... we already know your machine is working fine.

I have since completely wiped my machine, reconfigiured the RAID, reloaded a completely FRESH instance of Win 7 Pro x64, run the updates for the OS and installed the 197.13 nVidia drivers, YET I STILL GET RANDOM CRASHES!!

Yep, the SAME STOP code

0x0000007f (0x0000000000000008, 0x0000000080050031, 0x00000000000006f8, 0xfffff80002a83609)

I called HP "Turtle Care" who eventually admitted it's a hardware fault (but wouldn't tell me what sort). Waited two days for them to get back to me with a reference number. Now I'm waiting on a tech to call me. BAH!

Any further constrcutive comments, anyone?

[Big_Dave]

Are you running the 5.11 bios level?  You might what to check out some of the software updates for your PC.  some of them are old tho.

[BigScoddie]

Yep, Big_Dave, I do have the latest BIOS version (5.11). I updated that soon after purchasing the system.

I notice the nVidia driver on the HP site is quite old, as you say, at version 187.47.

Nevertheless, and interestingly, since my last post, I have, AGAIN, reinstalled a fresh version of Win 7 Pro x64. This time I have not installed the very latest drivers from nVidia, I just allowed Windows Update to determine the best version. It installed version 186.75!! So far, the system has not crashed!

Obviously, I will not touch the drivers unless the system starts to play up again. I don't play games, so really don't care that I don't have the latest "patches" to get "Geek Blasters" and "Zit-Squeeze" running at 10,000FPS. I just want my system to be stable!!

By the way, I notice the HP support site has all the "updates" for their bloatware, but not the full installs. Where do you get the full versions, if you want to (in a crazy fit) reinstall some of it?

[Big_Dave]

The bloatware would be on your HP recovery disks.  You might be able to open the disk and find what you are looking for to use.  I haven't tried it but there were some posts awhile back claiming it was possible including a U-Tube video.

Any particular piece of software that you need to use?

[BigScoddie]

I'm not having a "crazy fit", so really don't want any of it. I was just curious.

The next big test will be when I install Nero 9 which muckswith the DirectX installation. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Just running an image of the system BEFORE I install Nero.

Then the final big test will be Office 97 and Adobe CS4!

[BigScoddie]

OK, Trendsetters, here are my definitive findings!

The first time I rebuilt my machine, I was still getting random BSODs. This led me to assume it was a hardware issue. Interestingly, part of that install was a few "important" utilities I am so used to having on my system - such as EditPad Pro, Directory Opus and ZoneAlarm.

This time around, I have loaded one piece of software at a time and then (using True Image 2010 to) create an image in between. I have managed to install EVERYTHING, including Office 2007 and Adobe CS4 WITHOUT ONE SINGLE BSOD! My system has been running solidly (albeit with an older version of the nVidia drivers - as stated above) for a couple of days. The ONLY thing I have not yet installed is ZoneAlarm!

I decided to look this up and found quite a few posts and issues related to ZA and BSODs.

I guess I'll have to report back if this is the cause. I will image my machine, install ZA and enjoy the inconvenience of BSODs.

One forum suggested that if you disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, the problem will go away. I'll test that, too.

Stay tuned...